Downtown Cleveland Alliance honored for work on NineTwelve District

Downtown Cleveland Alliance's work related to the city's NineTwelve District has earned kudos from the International Downtown Association.The Cleveland group won IDA's Downtown Merit Award in recognition of initiatives on the NineTwelve District, which covers the area from East Ninth Street to East 12th Street between Euclid and Lakeside avenues. The award was announced during the IDA World Congress and 59th Annual Conference in New York City, which runs through Wednesday, Oct. 9.In a news release, Downtown Cleveland Alliance said the NineTwelve District was among eight qualified entries in the category of Economic and Business Development. Finalists in the category were projects that recruited new businesses or improved retention efforts in downtown; recruited new sectors of the economy to downtown; and created or enhanced economic development efforts through creative financing, unique operating strategies or public-private partnerships“The Downtown Cleveland Alliance recognized the need for a renewed focus and rebranding of the former financial district when we formed the NineTwelve District in 2009,” said Joe Marinucci, president and CEO of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, in a statement.“There were many office vacancies and few restaurants, retail stores and residential buildings,” Mr. Marinucci said. “Now, office occupancy is at new heights, more than 2,500 new jobs have been committed to the district over the past two-and-a-half years, there are seven new residential projects that have recently come online or are in the pipeline, and the NineTwelve District has become a hot spot for new retail.”Washington, D.C.-based IDA has 550 members.

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